MVP Health Care Supports Green & Healthy Homes Initiative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

**MVP Health Care Supports Green & Healthy Homes Initiative to Deliver Housing Intervention Programs to Capital Region Residents**

ALBANY, NY, May 2, 2018 — The mayors of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy; county officials; nonprofit leaders; and others have joined to create the nation’s first regional Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) partnership. The GHHI compact created a partnership among the cities of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy; local health and municipal departments; numerous nonprofit service providers; and GHHI to deliver housing intervention programs for Capital Region residents living in energy-inefficient, unhealthy, and unsafe homes.

In addition to signing the compact, MVP Health Care was one of the original funders and drivers of bringing this project to the Capital Region.

Susan Cotner, executive director of the Affordable Housing Partnership, announced a three-year term of funding for a regional GHHI Outcome Broker/Coordinator who will be the liaison between GHHI and local partners, and who will oversee implementation and operation of GHHI work throughout the region.

Other participants in the announcement of the partnership included Ruth Ann Norton, president and CEO of GHHI; Mayor Kathy Sheehan, City of Albany; Mayor Gary McCarthy, City of Schenectady; Mayor Patrick Madden, City of Troy; John Eberle, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region.

Also joining the ceremony to sign the regional GHHI compact last fall were then-Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino and leaders from Better Neighborhoods, Inc.; Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region; Cornell Cooperative Extension; Habitat for Humanity of the Capital District; the Schenectady Foundation; Troy Rehabilitation Improvement Program; local Land Banks; city and county departments, including area health departments; and others.

The Capital Region’s GHHI partnership is a follow-up to the Breathing Lights public art program, which brought together the cities of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy to begin addressing the issue of blight, unhealthy housing, and the need for neighborhood revitalization. Many of the partners in the partnership began working together on the Breathing Lights project and began streamlining efforts and sharing best practices during that project.

The regional GHHI partnership will focus on:

Better health outcomes for children, seniors and families.
More efficient use of public investment through improved interagency and municipal coordination.
Improved energy-efficiency for low- and middle- income families.
Higher quality green jobs.
Reduced barriers to school attendance and work among families with young children.
Support for neighborhood stabilization through more effective and sustainable home investments.

The Capital Region GHHI partnership is generously supported by the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region, the Schenectady Foundation, KeyBank, MVP Health Care, and National Grid. The Community Foundation serves as lead convener of the regional GHHI partnership.

More than 30 cities nationwide are currently working with GHHI. GHHI has proven to be an effective model of service delivery by lowering incidents of asthma and lead poisoning, reducing slips and falls that occur in a home, and, in the process, enabling older adults to live independent lives and improving families’ ability to thrive.

GHHI’s model has produced consistent positive outcomes for families nationwide. According to data researched by GHHI, one in 10 children have asthma, which causes them to miss approximately 14.4 million days of school and their parents and guardians to miss an additional 14.2 million days of work caring for their children.

Residents of homes that have received coordinated delivery of services report reductions in doctor visits, ER visits, and hospitalizations due to asthma. They also experience fewer missed days of school and missed days of work. In Baltimore, GHHI’s work has helped produce a 66% reduction in asthma-related hospitalizations, a 62% increase in asthma-related perfect school attendances, and an 88% increase in never missing work due to their child’s asthma. Philadelphia’s and Cleveland’s GHHI programs have helped lead to asthma-related client hospitalizations reduced by 75% and 58%, respectively, while asthma-related client ER visits went down 76% and 63%, respectively.

To learn more about GHHI, visit www.greenandhealthyhomes.org.

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About MVP Health Care

MVP Health Care is a nationally recognized, community-focused, not-for-profit health insurer serving more than 700,000 members in New York and Vermont. Committed to the complete well-being of its members, MVP provides the tools and information they need to achieve better health and peace of mind. For more information, visit www.mvphealthcare.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mvphealthcare, and on Twitter at @MVPHealthCare.